"Four Dancers," c. 1899, Edgar Degas

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See the dancers preparing to go onstage in Edgar Degas’ painting “Four Dancers,” one of the largest and most ambitious of the artist’s late works. Degas was fascinated by ballet and the gestures of ballerinas, and he made more than a thousand drawings, paintings, and sculptures of ballet themes. Short, quick strokes of pale pink and green paint on the dancers’ arms and backs catch the reflection of gas light. Squiggly black lines around their red-orange bodices evoke a sense of their excitement as they wait to perform. On view in the West Building, Main Floor, Gallery 83. http://www.nga.gov/fcgi-bin/tinfo_f?object=46597 ----- Find the Children's Video Tour at http://www.nga.gov/education/timetravel/index.shtm